1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for creation of definition files for use by device drivers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been a printing system having printers installed on a network and shared by client terminals. Sometimes in such a printing system, printer driver setting at printer driver installation on a client terminal is left to a user who utilizes the client terminal, which makes it difficult to manage printer drivers. To obviate this, the administrator explains in document the users about printer driver setting on client terminals, or performs himself/herself the printer driver setting on each individual printer.
However, the increase in the number of client terminals and setting work at a remote place increase the administrator's labor, which poses problems. To reduce the labor, there has been disclosed a technique for changing a default printer setting or adding a printer object to a printer by using a definition file created beforehand by the administrator and a printer replication setting tool (see, e.g., Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-38296). The definition file is able to identify a printer name, printer driver name, connection destination information for use when printer is used, and information of locations of printer driver and printer driver install program. By using a printer driver found by search based on the definition file, an installation process is executed.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-38296 also discloses a technique for replicating a printer object and changing the prescribed setting of the replicated printer object based on a setting file, which is created beforehand and able to identify a printer driver name, etc. The setting file is an INF file comprised of section names, item names, and values.
With the technique proposed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-38296, however, a user (e.g., administrator) who creates the definition file is required to set, on a screen, shared information and individual printer information. The shared information includes, e.g., an installer set storage path, application setting for use on the client side, log file storage path, user switching information, and other software start-up file storage path. The individual printer information includes, e.g., a printer name, driver name, port-related items, and comments.
With the technique proposed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-38296, the same shared information must be input at creation of each of definition files for different printers.
Although there is a function for editing an already created setting file, it is necessary to read the definition file, e.g., one hundred times for editing it to create one hundred definition files one by one for one hundred printers, which is extremely troublesome.